The Pen Tool is fundamental to any graphics
program, including Flash. Mastering this tool will give you a firm grasp on drawing custom
objects and editing existing shapes, which is a skill that will serve you well as long as you use graphic type programs. It is not an easy tool to learn but the control that you achieve when you have mastered the technique are well worth the effort. What's more Adobe has standardized the Pen Tool and since the introduction of CS3 the Pen Tool is identical in Flash, Illustrator and PhotoShop.

In fact all graphics programs have an equivalent to the Pen Tool (even
if it has different names) and the principles are always the same, irrespective
of the program. The roll of the Pen Tool is of primary importance in graphic programs and has not changed since the earliest version of programs like Illustrator.

In the next few tutorials I will cover the Pen Tool and the other tools grouped with the Pen on the Tool Panel.. I will also look at the Subselection Tool . This is a selection/editing tool and goes hand in hand with the Pen Tool.

The Pen Tool is not intuitive. You cannot draw like you would with the Pencil Tool or paint like you would with the Brush Tool. The Pen Tool is a computer invention and bares no resemblance to a real pen. It has been designed to make the Mouse an accurate drawing tool, which it does very well. To master the Pen Tool you need to understand how Flash (or other graphics programs) make shapes through the use of vectors:

Step One: Understanding Vectors

A vector type image is a group of shapes that are defined mathematically by a series of lines and curves. Vector type images tend to make small files (as in KB or MB).Flash uses vectors because the files sizes are small so the files download quickly. Because the image is stored mathematically the width and height size of an image is not important. You can enlarge a vector image and there is no loss of image quality and even though an image may look bigger in width and height the electronic file size (in KB) remains unchanged!!

When you draw in Flash the program creates a vector image. A vector image is a computer image that uses a Wire Frame or Outlines to define a shape's area. A vector image is drawn in lines called Paths.

To view the Direction Lines drag right over the line: Select Anchor Points

Don't forget to turn Outline Mode off: View > Preview Mode > Full

Step Two: Drawing Straight Lines with the Pen Tool.

The Pen Tool is not intuitive. You do not draw the line but the Anchors and direction Points as described in the previous section. Because this is a bit different I will take you through the use of the Pen Tool very slowly step by step.

Curves are a little more of a challenge than straight lines but as long as you remember that you are placing anchor points and not drawing curves you will be ok. With curves, instead of clicking,
you click, hold and drag out a direction handle to define the path of a curve. In
the arc below, the arrow indicates where the direction handle is going as well
as your path.

In the previous section you created curves that were smooth. In this section you will learn how to create curves that have sharp corners rather than smooth corners. The difference is in the direction handles. In the smooth curve the direction handles are the same length on both sides of the anchor point. With the sharper cornered curve the direction handles are not the same length:

Just when you thought you knew how to draw curves with sharp corners I come back with even sharper corners! Why? Because the technique that I am about to show you is actually quite different to what I showed you in the previous section and the one thing the Pen Tool offers is flexibility. With the Pen Tool it is possible to draw any shape you can think of. This amazing flexibility and accuracy come at a price and that is it that the Pen Tool has many options! But you have nearly covered them all. So what is different. In all the previous curves the direction handles are cut through the curve like a tangent. What you are going to learn now is how to create direction handles that are not in tangent and each individual direction line moves off in different directions, which makes the curve move off in different directions.

What is surprising is that all drawings are made of a few basic
shapes! In this section I will show you the types of shapes that can be drawn with all versions of Flash. In each instance I will give you an example of a line with two Segments and three Anchor Points.

What this section will show you is show you just how much more flexible the Pen tool is in Flash CS3. Theoretically once you can draw basic shapes you can draw anything. It is really worth the effort as you will be able to use these skills in other graphics programs. In each instance I will give you an example of a line with two Segments and three Anchor Points. I would like you to think about how a line changes as it goes through the central Anchor Point. For example how a straight line changes in to a curve or visa versa. Try and draw the following shapes:

You should now start to get an idea of what the Pen Tool is capable of achieving. Up until now I have shown you how to get the drawing correct as you draw. You maybe pleased to know that it doesn't really matter if you make mistakes as you go along as it is often easier to correct your work after you have drawn the basic shape. In the next tutorial I will introduce you to the tools needed to edit the shapes that you have create with the Pen, Pencil or Brush Tools. You can also edit other vector type images that may have been created in programs like Illustrator or Fonts and most Clip Art.

I hope you have found this useful. If so perhaps you could recommend this site to others and link to webwasp!